(*Note: This week's Think Tank discussion will take place in TSRB Room 333)

Networking: 3:30 - 3:45 pm -Discussion: 3:45 - 5:00 pm

Electronic sports, known as esports, have undergone a meteoric rise in popularity over the past several decades enabled by technological advances in network connectivity, game engines, and online streaming platforms. Over 300 million fans have streamed almost 300 million hours on the Twitch platform alone, and the global viewership is expected to top 380 million by the end of 2018. However, even with the rapid acceptance and legitimation of esports in popular culture, there are still many fundamental gaps in our understanding for how to support the user experience around it.

At this week's IPaT Thursday Think Tank, we'll discuss how esports have much to gain through human-computer interaction (HCI) research in supporting viewers. Barriers for capturing and supporting new and diverse audiences are significant, and it is necessary that this research be driven and founded through industry partnerships to be successful.